Rideau River

I went out last Friday for a quick flight. It was a cooler, blustery day but I still wanted to make the most of it. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was mostly clear with a few scattered clouds.

The gusting wind and lack of an open area on the ground made this a difficult launch. There is a small park and walking trail near my house which lets you reach down to the water. Sitting down in the river valley, a bend away from Hunt Club you don’t hear as much of the city noises.

I only managed to get a few good shots of the river as the wind wanted to play around with my Parrot AR. I had to seek shelter behind trees to stay out of the wind, but the dead spots themselves were unpredictable.

The fading light didn’t help out the camera any, but there was still lots to see. I would have like to get closer to the bridge, but the wind would not let me do so in a controlled fashion. Popping out over the river and out of the shelter of the trees would cost me almost two hundred feet of river and a lot of back tracking.

It was a quick, fun outing which may be one of my last Friday night flights. The sun is starting to set around 1900 here and I’m not getting back from work in time. I may have to get some extra LEDs or mini flashlights so I can see my Parrot whizzing around in the dark.

Modified Remote Control Helicopter First Flight.

Earlier this week I was at last able to locate a screw driver small enough to start taking apart and modifying a small remote controlled helicopter that I have. I have managed to remove some parts of the helicopter both to save weight and in an initial attempt to power the wireless camera from the helicopter’s battery. Unfortunately the helicopter’s battery was not powerful enough to power the camera.

With the removal of some parts, an increased payload weight was possible, allowing for the helicopter to carry both the camera and the heavy 9 V battery. There is a reduction in operational ceiling of the aircraft, whereas I have flown it outside to heights exceeding 30 ft, I have only been able to achieve a 6 ft height above the ground in tonight’s testing. Additionally the helicopter is now significantly harder to control, this is due to a shift in the centre of gravity, and the additional weight of the battery. Further testing and modifications should work to fix this.

The next phase will be to work to find either a lighter, equally powerful battery for the camera, or to shift the battery placement location. First I feel that the battery should be shifted forwards, as the aircraft has a strong tendency to pitch up and slowly move backwards.  If the weather is calm tomorrow outdoors testing will take place to help bother determine the full camera range when attached to the helicopter as well as the full loiter time of this helicopter setup.

The raw video from testing is shown below. The helicopter was elevated above the surface of a bed by a milk crate so start the flight. This was thought to provide a larger safe test area. The antennae setup for the wireless camera has not been optimized, additionally the handling characteristics of the helicopter have not been perfected yet. As a result the video is a bit shaky and the movements of the helicopter are a bit erratic.

This initial flight served to prove that the helicopter could fly with the additional payload, and determine the initial estimates of it’s maximum ceiling. Air temperature is about 18 C in the test location, tomorrow’s forecast calls for 30 C and high humidity, so further testing may be postponed.

New Toy

I’ve had the plan to modify one of my RC Choppers for a while and got the first new part for it today. This camera setup, shown below only cost $19 including shipping so it fits my budget great. I have yet to test it as I’ve been too excited packing and preparing for the long weekend.

Camera setup and receiver.

Seeing as I do not have access to open spaces, or volunteers to assist with range testing in the city, I’m waiting to test this camera on the weekend. There are three things I want to explore, first obviously the absolute clear line of site range of the camera. Second the range of transmission with obstructions, such as walls, or vehicles. Third, I want to test the near ground range of the device. That is the transmission distance if the camera and receiver are both close to the ground. When working on the GeoSurv II UAV at Carleton we had some isuses with this phenomenon which caused our UAV to not receive control signals at ranges as short as 50 ft. I wish to avoid having the same issue, or at least know how to work around it again.

I couldn’t help myself from doing some initial testing today. First off I wanted to do a payload test to see if the chopper was even powerful enough to lift the camera and its battery by itself. The payload I tested is shown below.

Payload package

Using a bit of duct tape I secured it to the bottom of  chopper and took flight. As I presumed flight was not achieved, and a partial ground effect hover did allow the chopper to move several feet away from its starting point, I figured I would have to do some weight removal, from the chopper and the camera itself. My first item to remove will be the stand for the camera. After that I will start with a detailed tear down of the chopper to find out exactly what is flight critical, and what can be removed. Additionally I want to eventually work the camera to be powered by the chopper’s battery. There is a small plastic missile full of LEDs attached to the bottom of the chopper. If the current draw of the camera is not too larger, and if the voltage of the chopper battery is correct, I suspect the chopper battery cold power the camera. Furthermore this would allow the camera to be triggered by a button on the remote control that activates the LEDs.

 

I’ll end this post with an action shot. It’s tricky to operate a remote control helicopter and a cell phone camera at the same time, so the picture is mostly a blur. Next time I will restrain my excitement long enough to set up a proper camera to record the second payload testing trials.

The almost hovering blur.

Boeing’s Underwater Autonomous Vehicle

Boeing is currently working to develop the underwater equivalent of a UAV. Completely autonomous submersible vehicles, which would have a wide variety of application in industry. Besides exploration, autonomous submersible vehicles could be used for salvage, mapping of the ocean floor and work on oil wells and oil rigs, and other underwater maintenance work.

Currently work is often done by ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and require precision movements be done by a trained human at the other end of the control cable. The limiting factor of an ROV are the cables attaching it to the mothership. These cables can get caught or cut on underwater structures or floating debris. Additionally the movement speed and distance is limited be these cables. A autonomous vehicle would not have these limitations.

However a completely autonomous vehicle is not without its own challenges. First off you cannot rely on GPS underwater as you can with UAVs. Water is much denser than air and after a certain depth signals will be blocked. This also means no direct line of communications with the ship. This would require further development of the “brains” of the submersible. It would have to be able to handle any scenario, malfunction, or discovery without human input. This requires a more extensive development and testing process to ensure that the vehicle will not become lost.

I eagerly await hearing what technology powers the Echo Ranger, and what further developments come from Boeing’s development work.

First UAV Carrier Landing

Today, in the Atlantic Ocean, history was made. For the first time an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle executed a carrier landing. Today marks a change in the way aircraft carriers will operate and is a huge milestone for unmanned flight. Carrier landings are often regarded as one of the most difficult feats of flying. Now, however the aircraft can do it all by itself. History has been made.

Robot Bird Drones: The Future is Now!

Looks like technology is almost at the point where a perfect mechanical bird can be made. The flight mechanics on this one don’t look entirely natural yet, but its getting close.